1999: Leaving her infant son behind, a young mother named Cassandra Schofield departs Bolton, seeking a better life amid the lights of London.
2004: Despite the best efforts of the time-travelling Doctor, ‘Cassie’ Schofield dies on Dartmoor, a vampirised victim of the sinister organisation called The Forge.
2021: All grown up, and a nurse at St Gart’s Hospital, Thomas Hector Schofield – known as ‘Hex’ – meets, and becomes a companion to, that time-travelling Doctor… but remains unaware that his alien friend knew his mother, and watched her die.
1854: In the Crimean War, Hex takes a bullet, and is seriously injured. The Doctor promises to return him to St Gart’s.
2025: Now. In a London ravaged by a deadly contagion… destiny awaits.
PROJECT: DESTINY
Among my complaints with Big Finish has been a tendency to leave plot threads hanging. This tendency was quite evident with the seventh Doctor: the fate of Nimrod and the Forge left open in “Project: Lazarus,” the issue of Hex’s parentage raised and left open in “Thicker Than Water” and “Forty-Five,” and even the direct plot issue of Hex’s gunshot wound in “The Angel of Scutari,” left open for fifteen months. But every single one of those threads is resolved in Cavan Scott and Mark Wright’s “Project: Destiny,” which shockingly manages to provide satisfactory answers to every question and serve as an excellent piece of drama to boot.
I’ll admit bias here: I adored the two previous Forge stories, and re-listening to them prior to “Destiny” put me in a beneficial mood. Nonetheless, with everything the authors were tasked to do, the first thing that impressed me was the sheer elegance of the script. Nothing seems forced in, no plot elements appear out of place – everything arises naturally from the drama. It’s almost unbelievable where the story ends up from its simple deserted-London beginnings – but then, it’s never wise to underestimate the Forge. Begin with the authors’ use of the seventh Doctor, forced to make a deal with the devil without a plan to back him up. It’s clear how well Scott and Wright understand this Doctor: he immediately starts juggling, and manages to keep almost all of the plates in the air to the end – but the one that falls and smashes on the ground is his companion, something he’s never been able to stop happening. Sylvester McCoy’s great in this: you can hear the anguish in his voice as he struggles with his possession, and he sounds genuinely dangerous in his confrontations with Nimrod. But his relationship with his companions is most effective: it’s obvious how he’s taken Hex for granted, presuming their relationship to be as strong as his with Ace.
It’s Hex’s story, of course, and Philip Olivier is on top form. Some have argued that his reaction to the revelations about his mother are over the top and out of character, but consider the events: he’s recovering from a serious injury, he’s being manipulated throughout, and the Doctor is being intentionally vague with explanations. Hex has been a solid companion, but he’s always felt like an outsider compared to the Doctor and Ace. This story takes that to its logical conclusion, and so his decision to leave at the end feels natural, if abrupt. Not dissimilar from Tegan’s departure in “Resurrection of the Daleks,” though it’s disgust with the Doctor, not the universe, driving it. Ace, meanwhile, gets to provide the moral center to the play, admonishing Captain Aristedes (Maggie O’Neill) for her violent impulses and getting between Hex and the Doctor at their lowest point. Sophie Aldred could play Ace in her sleep by this point, turning in another effective performance.
Hex may be the focal point of “Project: Destiny,” but the real star of the show is Stephen Chance. Nimrod, now going by his real name, Sir William Abberton, steals every scene in which he features and casts a shadow over the rest. Chance’s voice can switch from malevolent to soothing on a dime, lending power to Nimrod’s manipulative nature: his outright glee at discovering the Doctor’s secrecy with Hex is outmatched only by the ease with which he uses that information to turn Hex against the Doctor. He doesn’t need the bonded polycarbide armor anymore: he’s fiendishly intelligent and can triumph in almost any situation with words alone. And at the end, when his façade slips and he declares “I am the Forge!” you believe every word. It is not hyperbole to describe Nimrod as the greatest original villain ever created by Big Finish, and “Project: Destiny” provides him with a perfect departure.
Much like “Project: Twilight,” “Destiny” is an action-oriented script, requiring challenging sound design work from Howard Carter. It’s a credit both to Carter and director Ken Bentley that the action sequences are always well thought out and easy to understand, and that the script is never reduced to actors shouting descriptions at each other. Carter’s music is also excellent, channeling the cinematic feel of the other plays in the trilogy.
The story isn’t perfect, of course. The resurrection of Cassie seems unnecessary, the actors often resort to melodramatic performances, and Hex’s departure, while effective, is awfully abrupt. But none of that particularly concerns me. This is still excellent Doctor Who, written by two authors who consistently appeal to my deepest fan genes. As another gem in the ongoing Sylvester McCoy renaissance, this is great; as the capstone to the Forge trilogy, this is excellent. I could keep up the superlatives for another paragraph, but we’ll leave it at this:
Exceptional.
10/10